The Law: Spirit and Letter, Enforcers and Corruption

Friday, 11 October 2013 12:55
Szandor Blestman

Here's something not too many people know. Back in the mid 1980s, I was accepted to a couple of graduate school law programs. I never really told anyone because I decided I didn't want to go. Or rather I told myself that life had decided for me and that I couldn't afford to go. There have been times in my life when I have wondered how things would have turned out for me had I gone. Perhaps my life would have been better, perhaps not. I wonder if I would have let knowledge of the law corrupt me, as it seems to have done to so many others. I wonder if I would have let knowledge of this secretive and highly influential language taint my world view, or if I would have somehow managed to remain true to my morals and principles despite subjecting myself to the poisonous rot that passes itself off as law these days.

As it stands today, I have the clarity of hindsight to base my thoughts upon. I think that perhaps I have a better understanding of the law than many current day lawyers. At least I don't have the burden of knowing that I need the masses of people to not understand the nuances of law in order to make a living. I believe, as do many others, that the law should be written in plain English, or whatever language the masses understand, so that everyone understands it, not just a few who can then manipulate the language to their benefit. I believe we should do away with this language known as legalese which has a tendency to take common words and change their meaning for uncommon purposes.

The law should be simple. You don't harm others. You don't steal from others. Things like that. Of course there's going to be extenuating circumstances that might come about from time to time and these things should be considered, but the basics remain simple. So many people seem to worship this thing we call "the law" that it almost seems spiritual in nature. Yet spirit can be evil as well as good. Spirit can be detrimental as well as beneficial. There is a spirit behind these laws and that spirit should be designed to provide justice for someone who may be victimized by a powerful entity. The law ceases to be legitimate when it becomes the powerful entity that is victimizing the common folk.

In today's society, it is not the spirit of a law that is enforced, but the letter of the law. For instance, if a law says do not cross a street except at the crosswalk or you will be fined, you could be fined even if you had a legitimate reason for breaking that law such as trying to avoid someone who means to cause you harm. We'd like to think that those who enforce the law could use their discretion to understand when the spirit of the law is being violated as opposed to the letter of the law, but this is hardly ever the case. We'd like to think that judges and juries would be able to do the same, but this is again hardly ever the case. Enforcers enforce the letter of the law, no matter how much harm that letter might do to another human being. Judges and juries only judge guilt or innocence via interpreting the letter of the law, not it's spirit.

The power of the law is its spirit. That power has been usurped due to the desire for expedience and the laziness of the common folk. It has been corrupted due to governmental greed and the desire of the ruling class to control the masses. The justice system itself has become one huge injustice, one huge miscarriage of justice, one huge revenue generating mill that punishes the innocent by encouraging plea bargains where they plead guilty to a lesser charge to avoid attorney costs and jail time, protects the guilty in the same way, and upholds bad laws by not allowing or encouraging juries to judge the law itself over and above the defendant's guilt or innocence.

Today's laws are selectively enforced. They are often created by the dictates of government agencies controlled by the executive branch rather than through the conscientious debates of the legislative branch. Those with political power or who are able to afford the cost of political favors can oft times be excluded from the law while those without who can't afford it must suffer the consequences of a law that causes harm. Such is what we see in this huge 1600+ page monstrosity of a law that is fallaciously entitled the "Affordable Care Act" and more commonly known as Obamacare. It may have a well meaning spirit, but its letter is malicious and malignant. It is the letter of this law that will be enforced and as this happens its spirit vanishes into the ethers as a dystopian society sprouts into being.

The federal government has attempted to shut down some of its more innocuous aspects supposedly over the attempt to defund the implementation of this bill. The executive branch has failed miserably in its attempts to deny the public certain services (that should cost it extremely little to no money to provide) and to point the finger of blame at a certain political party. Many people now understand what this is really all about and that closing national monuments and parks is no way to go about solving this problem. It is my hope that those in the political class who are making a stand against funding Obamacare will take it one step further and repeal the entire law.

Yet I don't hold much hope that this will happen. There are powerful interests that want this law implemented no matter the consequences. As many have discovered and as I have said from the beginning it is the insurance companies who benefit greatly from this law, not the common folk. Think about it for a moment, how much better off would you be if you could get the federal government to mandate that everyone had to own the product or buy the service that you offer? With premiums going through the roof and the government forcing all to either buy the insurance or get fined, many will soon find that they will have much less cash to spend on things like food, rent, gas for the car, clothes, and other little necessities of life. Some may find they won't be able to afford such luxuries as new shoes for their kids. Some may have to leave their nicer homes in favor of more affordable abodes. Some may find they just can't afford to be alive after they are fired or reduced to part time labor all for the sake of a few insurance company executives whose companies' profits needed to be boosted by law.

Someday this law may indeed go into effect, and it may be someday soon. When this happens the people need to disobey. They need to simply not sign up for the mandated insurance. They need to simply say "no." When this happens they need to refuse to pay the fines. They need to, whenever possible, dare the establishment to come arrest them. They need to, in effect, grow a pair. When enough of the productive in society are threatened by government, something has to give. When this happens, it is my hope that the enforcers will side with the people who produce, not with the criminal, parasitic government. Bad law should not be enforced. When the letter of the law is harmful it should be judged illegitimate. No law that does such harm should be implemented in a free society, but if it is than it will be time for the people to stand and push back against it.

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